


A Certain Chemistry

by GaleWrites



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Giles is so done, Just not the comics, Sapphics everywhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:53:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25525477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaleWrites/pseuds/GaleWrites
Summary: A few years post-show, Faith and Buffy meet up in a graveyard by happenstance. Attempting to mend bridges, the two go out for drinks. Things go a little sideways when they wake up and discover that they've drunkenly completed a magic marriage ritual. Reactions are... mixed
Relationships: Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers
Comments: 6
Kudos: 73
Collections: Just Married Exchange 2020





	A Certain Chemistry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Melacka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melacka/gifts).



_ Even in a world full of Slayers, there was something different about Buffy and Faith. The world knew it, the vamps knew it, and even the two of them knew it, although both would have argued the point. There shouldn’t have been anything different about them, really. After everything they’d been through, they should have been able to just fade into the crowd. Sadly, it never really happened like that. They had too much history to be ignored. _

It began, as it always did, on a hunt. Faith noticed her right away: Buffy out in the graveyard in her painfully fashionable clothes, with her stake and her friends. Willow and Kennedy held hands behind Buffy, followed by two more girls Faith didn’t recognize. The language on the tombstones and the snow on the ground didn’t make the scene any less familiar. The graveyard wasn’t in Sunnydale, but it might as well have been.

Faith was pretty sure they were hunting the same thing as her, a particularly nasty demon with a group of loyal vampire lackeys. It was so painfully familiar and yet… she wasn’t sure if she should approach. Together they’d survived the end of the world, but would Buffy want to see her? Neither of them were ever sure if they were glad to see each other any more. 

Still, the work was more important, and she knew it could be done better as a team. After a few moments of indecision, she stepped out of the shadows. “Hey, B. Willow, Kennedy. Fancy meeting you here tonight.”

Buffy turned, stake at the ready, then lowered it with a sigh. “Faith. What are you doing here?”

“Same as you, I’m sure. Group of vampires working for a nasty demon. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” Faith shrugged, keeping it light. “You’d think they’d be more original.”

From the way Buffy looked at her, Faith was certain that both of them were remembering what happened the last time they’d faced a cult like this together. The memories weren’t happy ones, for either of them. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, I guess.” Buffy replied, and Faith could see her friends behind her relax.

Kennedy smiled at her, and Faith smiled back. “You coming with us? Never hurts to have an extra Slayer around.”

Willow’s eyes went a bit wide and she shook her head at her girlfriend. Faith was pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to have noticed that bit.

Buffy sure didn’t. After glancing around, she shrugged. “You might as well come with. There’s plenty to go around.”   
  
Faith nodded and fell into step with the group. “How’ve you been? Haven’t seen you since the end of the world.”

Buffy shrugged. “Oh, you know. The same as always. Exciting new graveyards, same old vampires. Boys that  _ definitely _ do not deserve me. The usual.”

Faith laughed. “I wondered when you were going to realize your taste in men was on the creepy side.”

“Italy.” Buffy replied and made a face. “Don’t ask. Not my best pick, that one.”

“Well, if we take these guys down quick, you want to go out with me tonight? Like old times?” She wasn’t entirely sure what made her ask, but she couldn’t bring herself to retract the offer.   
  
“Sure, why not?” Buffy shrugged. “I’ll need a drink after this.”

As it turned out, five slayers and an incredibly powerful witch together made short work of even the nastiest demon and his crew. Faith was almost disappointed in how quickly the whole thing wrapped up. It was nice working with the crew again, especially Buffy. She had never minded working solo, but both times she’d been a part of Buffy’s crew stood out as some of the best times of her life. She couldn’t deny how nice it was to be a part of something.

Once she and the others had looked over the place thoroughly to make sure they hadn’t missed anything, Faith turned to go. She never really expected Buffy to take her up on the offer, and it was best not to put the other woman on the spot about it.

“Faith, wait up.” Buffy called after her. “We were going to go out, right? I dunno how long you’ve been in town but I know a great club. Serves drinks at half-price for Slayers.”

“Oh, right.” Faith shrugged, playing it casual. “Yeah, that sounds cool. Sorry, got distracted by the fight.”   
  
“We’re going to a club?” Willow asked, perking up.

  
“No, you and I have  _ other plans _ .” Kennedy told Willow firmly. Faith didn’t entirely know what to make of Kennedy flashing her a wink as she said so.

“We do? I don’t remember any-” Willow started, but Kennedy kissed her to shut her up.   
  
“We do. We promised we were going to take Shaina and Akasha to…” Kennedy hesitated, and Faith had to try not to laugh. Willow’s eyes went wide.   
  
“Right, yes. We were going to take them to... that new magic shop I found! Definitely. That.” Willow waved at the other two girls. “Come on you two, let’s go. Buffy’s already seen it.”   
  
The four of them headed off, and Faith started laughing the minute they were gone. “Wow, they really never did learn how to tell a decent lie, did they?”

Buffy smiled wryly. “No, I guess not. But I don’t mind having a night alone with you to catch up. It’s been too long.”

Faith grinned. “Well then, why don’t you show me this club you were talking about?”

\-----------------------------------------

The club was dark and loud, music loud enough to feel like a physical force the moment they stepped inside. Buffy grinned and grabbed Faith by the arm, towing her down a path outlined by shifting colorful lights to a bar in a slightly quieter part of the building.   
  
“What’re you having?” Buffy asked, leaning in close to be heard over the music.

Faith glanced at the back of the bar, contemplating what they had. “Tonight seems like a vodka night, I think.”   
  
Buffy nodded and shouted their order to the bartender. “I’ll get the first round.” She told Faith. 

Faith nodded. “Alright, I never turn down a free drink. But I’m buying next time, okay? I like showing a pretty girl a good time.”   
  
Buffy laughed and flapped a hand at her, taking her drink when the bartender handed them over. “To old friends.”   
  
“And new beginnings.” Faith replied, accepting her own glass, holding it up to Buffy’s before taking the shot. “You wanna dance?”   
  
“I’d love to.” Buffy stood up, still holding her drink, and headed over to the nearest dance floor. Faith followed, taking the opportunity to appreciate once again the sight of her old friend’s ass in the  _ very _ well fitted jeans Buffy was currently wearing.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two hours and three drinks each later, Buffy and Faith stumbled out of the bar, arms around each other.    
  
“B, why haven’t we been  _ doing _ this? You’re so much more fun to go out with than the people I usually drink with. You might be the good girl, but you know how to get  _ wild.”  _ Faith told Buffy appreciatively.

“Oh, well, you know, I don’t get a lot of nights like this anymore. It’s all responsibility and training teenagers. I think this must be what Giles felt like.” Buffy groaned, remembering how young her newest Slayer recruits were. “We’re old now, Faith.”   
  
Faith laughed and shoved her playfully, causing them both to stumble a bit. “B, we’re in the prime of our lives! We’re 28, not 82. That is more than old enough. I mean young enough. Whatever. The point is, we’re young and hot and it’s not our fault if people our own age can’t keep up with us. Even Willow got herself a cute young thing after all.”   
  
“Kennedy’s only three years younger than us.” Buffy replied, laughing despite herself. “Not much of a difference, really. And what does it matter? I’m still playing teacher for a bunch of perky young things.”

Faith reached over to squeeze Buffy’s chest playfully, causing her to laugh and scoff in faux indignation. “You’ve got perky things right here, dollface.”

“Hey! Stop, we’re in public!” Buffy giggled, not entirely sure why the joking contact had made her feel so warm.   
  
“Well... you wanna come over to my place, then?” Faith asked. “I’ve got a bottle of good whiskey I wouldn’t mind sharing~”

\---------------------------------------------------------

The bottle of whiskey sat mostly empty between the two girls on Faith’s couch. Faith liked having a couch, she’d discovered. Spending so much of her life in a cheap motel, then a prison cell had really given her an appreciation for things like couches where hot, blonde warrior women could sprawl across while drunkenly reminiscing about fights Faith had missed. 

Sure, it was still an airBnB, but she’d take what she could get.

“Buffy. B. Stop.” Faith interrupted as Buffy got way too distracted by trying to remember the color of her shirt when she’d fought the demon in her latest story. “I’m sure whatever you were wearing was super hot. It always is. But I wanna show you something.”   
  


Buffy sat up to look at her curiously. “What?”

“I found these weird ass rings last month when I was in…” She hesitated for a minute. “Fuckit. Wherever I was. Somewhere… warm.”   
  
“Rings?” Buffy repeated. “Pretty rings?”   
  
“Yeah, kinda.” Faith stood up and retrieved a small wooden box from one of her suitcases. “Look, see. I asked Giles about them, he said they’re part of this whole ass ritual.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Faith woke up naked in her own bed. That much, at least, was normal. A more interesting development was her head resting on one of Buffy’s perfect breasts. She sat up and groaned, fumbling for the water bottle she kept by her bed for this sort of problem.

After draining about half, she felt up to looking around and seeing if she could gauge what had happened the night before. So much was a blur. She was used to drinking hard, but she and Buffy had apparently gone  _ hard, hard _ er than even Faith was used to.

Shattered remains of the whiskey bottle lay in one corner, she noted, hoping she’d remember to clean that up before either of them walked through the broken glass. She was pleased to note that she couldn’t see anything she’d have to pay to have fixed. She remembered the stories of Buffy knocking down entire old houses with Spike, and Faith knew what kind of mood she’d been in when they left the bar. Judging by their lack of clothes, they may have gone for it, but at least not in such a way that had broken anything other than a bottle of whiskey.   
  
But then Faith noticed the ornate, old fashioned ring on her finger and sighed. Leave it to dumbass drunk Faith to suggest to dumbass drunk Buffy that they get fake married with some old bullshit ritual. They probably hadn’t even done it right, considering how trashed both of them were by then. Thankfully, now that she was awake and no longer drunk, she remembered how to  _ end _ the ritual. Giles had specifically said that to end the spell, one or both of them just had to take their ring off. She put her water bottle down, spared one last wistful look at Buffy still asleep next to her, and tried to pull the ring off.

It wouldn’t come off. Faith growled and twisted it on her finger, confirming that it wasn’t too small, before trying to tug it off again, even harder. No dice.   
  
“FUCK.” Faith shouted, forgetting her sleeping ‘wife’ next to her.

Buffy groaned and opened her eyes. “Faaaaith. Keep it down. I don’t want to be awake for at  _ least _ another hour.”   
  
“Sorry, B, but this… might be serious. I’ll make you some coffee to make up for it.” Faith replied carefully.   
  
“What’s wrong? Vampire trouble? Demon beasties?” Buffy sat up gingerly, frowning at the look on Faith’s face.

“Uh. Well. I think we got married last night.” Faith sighed.

Buffy stared at her for a minute, then started to laugh. “What? I might’ve been too drunk to remember exactly what we did, but I know we were in bed long before anyplace that might’ve married us was even open.”   
  
Faith held her left hand up so Buffy could see the ring. “No sleazy Vegas wedding required. We did a magic ritual. Now my ring won’t come off. Try yours.”   
  
“Alright, fine, but this had better be a joke.” Buffy tried to tug off her own ring, with the same results. “What the hell?”

Faith groaned. “I’m gonna kill Giles. He told me these were just ceremonial!”

“Giles?” Buffy frowned. “So you knew what these were before last night?”

“Sort of? I found them like a month ago and asked Giles about them. He said they were part of a wedding ceremony for a dead religion, and asked me to bring them the next time I went to visit.” She shrugged. “He told me about the ceremony itself but never mentioned it did anything.

  
“Okay, okay. Whoa. Slow down, Faith. First off, since when are you penpals with Giles? Second off, why would you pull those out? You would’ve had to pull them out and suggest we do it for this to have happened. What the hell, Faith? Can’t we ever just spend a night hanging out without it getting weird?” Buffy glared at her, and Faith’s heart sank.   
  
“Look, I dunno. Who else am I supposed to ask about the weird shit when I find it? And I don’t really remember, B. Probably I just thought it’d be funny to be your ex wife or some shit.”   
  
That was entirely a lie. She couldn’t remember much from the night before, but she could definitely remember looking at Buffy lying on the couch with her eyes lit up talking about shooting a monster with a rocket launcher, and thinking that she was the perfect woman. Now, though, Buffy was so angry at her that Faith would’ve rather chopped her finger off than admit that.

“Okay.” Buffy took a deep breath. “I’m going to call Giles. See if he can figure this out. You… I dunno. Try greasing up your finger or something?”

Faith nodded glumly. “Sure. I’ll give it a try.”

Being an airBnB, Faith’s current residence was not particularly large, just a humble studio apartment big enough for her to crash comfortably. So while Buffy stepped over to the couch, Faith could hear her side of the phone call clearly even as she went for the bottle of lube on the nightstand to try to grease the ring off.   
  
“Hi, Giles.” Despite her frustration with the situation, Faith could see that Buffy still relaxed a little when talking to her former Watcher. 

“Well, I’m okay, I guess. But this isn’t a social call. I’m in a bit of a jam.”   
  
“What? No! Why would you even think that?”

Giles’ answer was apparently not good enough.   
  
“Seriously, Giles. That’s only  _ almost _ happened once. And it was because of Faith. Who’s the reason I’m in a bind right now too, now that I think of it.”   
  
Faith sighed. Maybe Buffy was right. She’d certainly caused the other woman a lot of problems in the past. Maybe it was stupid of her to have thought they could move past that.

“No, it’s not like that either. Listen, Giles. Faith said she talked to you about some kind of magic marriage rings?”   
  
She could imagine the shift to the academic tone Giles always took on when discussing magic, artifacts and all things supernatural.   
  
“Yeah, those. Look, how do you turn them off?”

Buffy flopped onto the couch in frustration.   
  
“I mean, if someone… theoretically… may have gotten really drunk last night and done whatever ceremony you have to do with these things, how would that someone go about reversing it?”   
  
Faith braced herself for a rapid end to their drunken marriage.   
  
“No, we tried that. They won’t come off. Theoretically, I mean.”

  
Faith could tell that Giles’ response was not at all what Buffy was hoping for, but she didn’t know what that meant, under the circumstances.   
  
“Does it matter?” Buffy asked, sounding very annoyed.   
  
Faith gave up both on trying to yank the ring off and on any pretense that she was not listening in.   
  
“Ugh, fine. Faith. See? You have to be wrong.”   
  


Buffy looked over at Faith after Giles responded, and waved her over. “Okay, here.”   
  
Faith stepped over to sit next to Buffy, who put her phone on speaker between them.   
  
“Hello, Faith. Congratulations on your new marriage.” Giles greeted her in a dry tone of voice. “As I was just telling Buffy, I’m afraid the spell here is rather simple. If either of you really, truly wanted out of the marriage, the rings would come off. As they have not…” Faith could practically hear the shrug. “Well, I’m afraid that must mean that some part of you both wants to be married.”

“Seriously?” Faith asked, looking down at the ring on her finger that had caused so much trouble. “The spell can tell?”   
  
“It can.” Giles confirmed. “Furthermore, I’m afraid everyone else will be able to as well. Until you take the rings off and end the spell, everyone will respond to you as though you are married. What this will mean on a practical level will vary, of course, but the point of the spell is to make it known to the world that the wearers of the ring are bonded. People won’t know why they know you’re married, but they all will.”

“Ugh.” Buffy groaned. “This can’t be right. There’s no way I want to be married to this… reckless slut.”   
  
“ _ Excuse me _ ?” Faith replied, glaring. “Have you looked in a mirror lately? Just because you keep them around for a couple months after you screw them doesn’t mean you’re any better than I am.”   
  
Giles cleared his throat. “There is likely some dissonance between your conscious opinions of each other and your subconscious desires. My research has not been very clear exactly how… discerning the spell is. If you both harbor a deep seated desire to truly reconcile and become close, the spell may not be able to distinguish that from a desire to marry. These old spells are powerful but usually not particularly nuanced.”

Buffy relaxed a little, and Faith felt a twinge in her heart where she’d keep her romantic feelings, if she let herself have any. “Okay, so if that’s the case, if we successfully patch things up, that deep seated urge will be gone and the rings will let us go?”

Giles sighed. “It’s… possible. I can’t say for sure.”

“Alright, great. Come on, Faith. Let’s go… bond or something.” The blonde snatched her phone up off the table with a relieved smile. “Thanks, Giles!”   
  
“I really don’t know that it will be that-” Giles started, but Buffy had already hung up the phone. 

“Since this was your idea, you get to take me to breakfast.” Buffy informed Faith.   
  
She shrugged. “Alright, sure. I already promised you coffee, after all. Do you need a shower or anything? I could really use one. Lots of sweaty action last night, after all.” Faith winked.   
  


Buffy looked over at Faith, down at herself, and then over at her clothes in a dirty heap on the floor before finally letting out an exasperated sigh. “You have a point. I don’t want to go out in public like this. I should go change.”   
  
“No problem, B. You know the coffee shop a few blocks down from the club we hit last night, near the train station?”    
  
Buffy nodded. “Yeah, I know the one.”   
  
“Meet you there in an hour?”   
  
“Sure.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Buffy showed up an hour later, Willow was by her side, grinning. She let out a quiet squealing sound. “Oh my god you’re really  _ married! _ ”   
  
Buffy groaned, but Faith laughed. “Yeah, I guess we are. At least for now. I’m sure it won’t last long.”   
  
“Aw, well, I dunno.” Willow looked the two of them over. “Maybe it’s just the spell talking, but you two kinda fit.”

“That’s  _ definitely _ just the spell talking.” Buffy replied with a frown.

“Hey, ouch.” Faith replied, putting her hand on her chest in mock horror. “This, the morning after our wedding? So rude coming from the woman who definitely must have wanted to be married to me too, remember?”   
  


Buffy sighed. “Why isn’t anyone taking this seriously?”   
  
“No, Buffy, I am.” Willow told her, putting a supportive hand on her shoulder. “I’m just happy for you. Busting out of the hetero box and all.”

Faith laughed. “Wait, really? I’m her first girl?”   
  
“No.” Buffy lied, scowling at them both. “Just the first one Willow knew about.”

“Oh, my bad.” Willow replied, winking at Faith. “Well, I should let you two newlyweds enjoy your breakfast, I just had to see this for myself!”

“Bye Willow.” Buffy and Faith waved at her as she headed out.

When she was gone, Faith grinned at her fellow Slayer. “Breakfast is on me, my lovely wife.”   
  
“Don’t you start.” Buffy replied, laughing despite herself. “This whole situation is weird enough without you calling me wife.”

Faith shrugged. “I’m not exactly the marrying type, after all. If I don’t take this opportunity, when will I get another shot? Might as well enjoy my brief taste of matrimonial bliss.”

“Well, I mean, if you want to get married, I’m sure you could find someone.” Buffy told her with a worried frown.   
  
“Yeah? You think many people want to marry a- what was it? ‘Reckless slut’?” Faith quirked an eyebrow.

“Well, Robin seemed pretty crazy about you, last I saw you two. What happened there?”   
  


Faith shrugged. “He moved to Cleveland. Hellmouth or not, I’d rather chop my own arm off than live there. There’s plenty of Slayers on Hellmouth duty over there, I didn’t have to join them. He understood. It’s not like we were ever really serious.”

Buffy nodded. “Yeah that’s fair. I probably would’ve done the same. He’s nice and all, but… we could both do better.”   
  
“We could.” Faith agreed, smirking at her. “And we have. At least for a little while.”

“I’m not sure whether to be flattered that you think I’m better or tease you for thinking you’re better.” Buffy laughed.

“There’s nothing wrong with both. Both are good options, really.” Faith grinned at her. “Come on, let’s order some food.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The problem, Faith thought, was that the more time she spent with Buffy the less she wanted their accidental arrangement to end. That night, the two of them went on patrol together. They had always fought well as a pair, but somehow tonight they were in perfect sync. Maybe it was the rings, or maybe they’d just both grown up enough to work well as a pair, but their night in the graveyard was a perfectly choreographed dance of violence and dust. It almost felt unfair to the vampires, for two legendary Slayers to team up so perfectly. They never stood a chance.

“Is that the last of them?” Buffy asked after dusting yet another vampire.

Faith looked around. “I think it might be. No one’s gonna risk messing with us, after the kind of night we’ve had out here.”

Buffy nodded, putting away her stake. “Alright, good. That’s our night’s work done.”

“I guess it is.” Faith agreed, putting her own weapon away.

“I’ll... see you tomorrow, I guess?” Buffy asked. They’d spent the whole day together, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to spend the night again, or else it really  _ would _ feel like they were married.

“We could do that.” Faith agreed. “But we could  _ also _ take advantage of the best possible excuse to run off and fuck each other’s brains out.”

Buffy raised an eyebrow.   
  
“It’s basically our wedding night, B.” Faith said with a smirk. 

Buffy wanted to argue, but she was also very curious what sex with Faith would be like while she was sober enough to remember it. So instead of arguing, she yanked her ‘wife’ into an eager kiss.

Faith laughed and tightened the embrace even further, kissing the other Slayer with equal intensity and taking the opportunity to grope Buffy’s ass.

Buffy felt like she should probably be annoyed by that, but they were already planning on having sex, there wasn’t much point arguing with Faith’s preferred foreplay. Instead, she fought back by nipping at Faith’s lower lip and grabbing  _ her _ ass in reply.   
  
Faith growled, hoisting Buffy’s legs around her waist and pinning her against the side of a mausoleum

\--------------------------------------

  
Buffy wished she could say this was the first time that she’d ended up mostly naked on top of a sarcophagus in a mausoleum, but it was not. 

What was new was that it was  _ Faith _ between her legs, licking her lips with a satisfied smile. She… probably shouldn’t have enjoyed that as much as she had. Faith was  _ extremely _ good with her tongue, and she had to admit- at least to herself- that if the best oral she’d ever had was from a woman her own age and not either of the extremely skilled centuries old vampires who’d been  _ practicing _ that whole time… she was probably way more into women (into Faith) than she’d thought. 

That didn’t mean she wanted to be married to her though, right? The idea of marrying Faith was… well, it made Buffy feel weird. She tried to convince herself it was  _ definitely _ a bad weird.    
  
She sat up, frowning at Faith. “This doesn’t change anything. You know that, right? This was fun but don’t go taking that ‘wedding night’ stuff seriously. It’s just sex. Honestly if you hadn’t gone all team evil back in high school, we probably would’ve gotten this out of our systems back then.”   
  
Faith’s smile faded, and Buffy was surprised to find that she looked a little hurt. “Right, yeah. Of course. Like I said, it was just a great excuse to get laid. Don’t take this all so seriously, B. Go home and chill, I’ll see you tomorrow and we can figure out what to do next.”

“Right. Good.” Buffy tugged her underwear back on and straightened her clothes. “Tomorrow.”   
  
Faith turned and left without another word.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faith didn’t exactly have anyone to talk to about this. Everyone she knew that liked her enough to listen was related to Buffy somehow, either Buffy’s ex or Buffy’s friend. Faith had spent so long being a loner that even though she wasn’t consciously pushing people away anymore, she didn’t really know how to reach out and make that connection.

Normally, if she really needed a friendly ear, she’d call Angel. He was kind of a weird, uptight guy, but he’d really been there for her more than a couple times. Even though it’d been years since they’d seen each other, she knew he’d be there and that she’d do the same for him.

Unfortunately, Angel was at the top of the list of ‘People I Can’t Talk To About Buffy’. She knew full well that he had never gotten over Buffy. Part of the reason she’d never intended to make a move on her fellow Slayer was for the sake of his feelings. Would Angel let a girl come between them? Maybe not. But he’d be really hurt, all the same. If she and Buffy actually  _ did _ decide to be together she would cross that bridge, but there was no point hurting him over a fake marriage and some messy complicated feelings.

Buffy’s friends were off the table for a similar reason. Were it any other girl, she might’ve called Kennedy, who was a surprisingly good listener for all manner of weird dating troubles. But she was Buffy’s friend first and Faith didn’t want to pull her into the middle of this whole tangle.

Three glasses of whiskey in and feeling very alone, Faith made the call to the only person she could think of.

“Faith. I hadn’t expected to hear from you. What can I do for you? Are you having, er… further problems with the rings?” Giles asked her immediately on picking up.

  
“Hoooboy. Yeah. They’re still not coming off.” Faith sighed. “Look, I know you’re mostly Buffy’s weird father figure, but do you think I could get some advice?”

There was a moment of hesitation. Faith didn’t have to be in the room with him to see him shift from work mode to support mode. The motion of taking his glasses off with that very concerned expression was one she remembered well. “Of course, Faith. I will do what I can.”

Faith slouched further over, putting her glass down before she filled it again. “So... what you said earlier about... ‘maybe it just senses our desire to reconcile.’ How much bullshit was that?”

Giles laughed. “It… could be true. I don’t find it particularly likely, however. There was always a certain chemistry between the two of you. I had not expected anything to ever come of it, but I can’t honestly say I’m surprised that it has.”

“Chemistry, huh?” She sighed. “You’re not wrong. Not to be, uh… TMI, but there were a few nights back in the day I was sure she was going to come home with me. I guess I wasn’t quite enough to distract her from Angel, though.”

“She is frighteningly loyal to whoever she has chosen.” Giles agreed. “Is that the problem now? Is there… someone else?”   
  
“I don’t think so? She said she was giving up on boys, and Willow said I was the first girl she’d ever seen Buffy with. I’m not sure B would even think to look at anyone else.”

“Hm. Jumping straight to marriage likely seems overwhelming on it’s own. She’s never exactly had a happy marriage in her life. And even if she had, stumbling into a marriage by way of magic is... a lot.” He paused, and Faith was certain he was adjusting his glasses. “But neither of you wants out of this marriage, at least not in a way these rings can identify, so I have to ask. Is this what you want, Faith?”

She hadn’t expected Giles of all people to ask so bluntly. “Well, I… I dunno. I like Buffy a lot. I never intended to actually marry her, I just figured this would be a silly morning that would maybe convince her to give me a chance. Marriage, though? I’m not really big on the idea of settling down as a general rule.”

“Well as her… how did you put it? ‘Weird father figure’? I would probably have hoped for someone else for her. Perhaps someone more... monogamous and independently wealthy.” He paused to laugh before continuing on. “But to be entirely truthful, I would not consider it a tragedy if the two of you were to become a lasting match. You, at least, clearly want it to be. And marriage does not have to be about ‘settling down’, as you put it. A marriage between two Slayers is unlikely to ever be anything resembling the term.”

“Well, you might be right, but none of that matters if I can’t even get her to admit she’s into me.” Faith groaned. “I kinda hate drunk me right now.”

“Honestly if the worst thing you do while inebriated is accidentally marry a woman you’re already in love with, you’re doing much better than I have.” Giles told her in a dry voice.

Faith sat bolt upright. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Love? I didn’t say anything about love. Slow your roll, Giles. I’m into her but love is a big word.” 

“Yes, I am aware.” Giles replied. “And yet, I think, not an inaccurate one. This spell is rather simple, yes, but it knows the difference between love, lust, and simple affection.”

“Waaait.” Faith frowned. “But that would mean-”   
  
“I make no speculation about what this means. I am merely passing on useful information about a magical artifact you are dealing with.” Giles told her firmly and quickly, clearly worried he was going too far in talking about his former charge.

“Right. Gotcha. Thanks, Giles.” Faith smiled. “I’ll talk to you later. Let you know how things go.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Buffy, why didn’t you  _ tell me _ you’re getting married?” Dawn asked, far too early in the morning and in far too loud a voice. Buffy wished she’d thought to set her phone to ‘do not disturb’.

“What? Who told you that?” Buffy asked groggily.

Dawn made a frustrated noise. “It’s on Facebook. Did you think I wasn’t going to notice? I didn’t even know you and Faith were dating, what’s going on?”

“I definitely didn’t put anything about me and Faith on Facebook.” Sitting up to grab her laptop, Buffy pulled up the website, yawning. “We’re not married, Dawnie.”

Yet despite her denial, there it was on Facebook, looking oddly harmless on the cheery page. Buffy noticed that neither herself nor Faith were listed as having made the change themselves, which meant that somehow, the spell was  _ influencing the internet. _ That seemed potentially worth worrying about later. She groaned. “It’s just a stupid spell gone wrong. We haven’t dated, we’re not married, we just... fell afoul of this weird marriage spell...thing.”

“What, like you were walking in the graveyard together and fell into a wedding?” Dawn asked skeptically. “Sure, Buffy.”

“Well, really it was more like… we got drunk and put on magic rings.” Buffy admitted. “We’re working on how to fix it. I don’t know how it got on Facebook. I’ll have to ask Willow. Seems up her alley.”

“You got  _ drunk married _ ?!?” Dawn replied, laughing. “Oh wow. You’re  _ never _ allowed to get on my case for bringing boys home again. At last I haven’t married any of them.”

Buffy groaned. “ _ You _ bring home strangers! Faith is a friend and  _ definitely _ not a vampire. Unlike your boys. It’s different.”

“Oh come on, I only went out with a vampire  _ once. _ You’ve dated two of them!” Dawn replied indignantly.

“Look, can we talk about this later? It’s really early here still. I’ve still got five hours before I’m supposed to meet up with Faith and figure out how to end the spell.” Buffy rubbed her eyes tiredly.

“Sure, Buffy, but it’s on your Facebook.  _ Everyone’s _ probably seen this by now. You might want to do some damage control.”

“I’ll talk to you later, Dawn. You can tell everyone over there it’s not real!”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That afternoon, Buffy and Faith met up in Faith’s temporary apartment again. Faith noted that Buffy looked as worn out as she felt, having stayed up way too late worrying about what she was going to do. 

“So, look, Buffy.” Faith told her carefully. “I’m sorry about all of this. If you want, we can go our separate ways and have this just be a funny story about how we’re technically married until these things eventually come off.”

Buffy toyed with her ring, a thoughtful look on her face. Faith didn’t know what to make of it. “I don’t know that that’d really be fair to either of us. It’d be a lot harder to pick up dates when everyone just  _ instinctively knows _ we’re both married.”

“Nah, it’s no big deal.” Faith shrugged carelessly. “I’ll just tell people I’m in an open marriage because we travel too much. It’ll be easy, B.”

“I guess we could.” Buffy replied. “But is that what you really want?”

“What do you mean?” Faith grabbed a bottle of water and took a swig, antsy as always in the face of an emotional conversation.

“I mean.” Buffy told her firmly. “You asked me out that night, before we did that stupid ritual. Willow says I was being too straight to notice.”

“I…” Faith shrugged. “I was open to wherever it went, was all.”   
  
“Mmmmhm.” Buffy replied, clearly unconvinced. “That’s why these rings won’t come off. You want this.”

Faith glared at her. “All it would take would be  _ one _ of us wanting out of this for the spell to end, remember? Giles told us that yesterday morning, right off. That was the whole reason it was supposed to be safe to do the spell in the first place. There was no way in hell you’d ever want to be married to  _ me _ . But you do. Somewhere in that prim and proper commitment-phobic brain of yours, you kind of want to be married to me.”

“Of course not! Giles said that it was probably just our desire to reconcile.” Buffy bluffed, crossing her arms. “I didn’t want to leave things on a bad note with you. That’s all.”

“Sure, B. You’re so polite and controlled and would never do anything like get married on a drunken whim. Except you did, and now we’re both left wondering why you won’t let it end. You’ve made it pretty obvious you don’t want to be here unless I’m fucking you.”

“That’s not it.” Buffy frowned and stepped in closer. “Look, without the whole marriage thing… this would’ve been nice. Getting to see you again, getting to… sleep with you, getting to know you a little better as adults. But I’m not ready to be married, Faith.”

“What, you think I am? I barely even  _ date _ , Buffy. Neither of us really like to commit. I’d say it’s a Slayer thing but I’ve been invited to enough Slayer weddings over the past few years to know better.”

“Maybe it’s an old school Slayer thing.” Buffy mumbled. “We were both in it when it was a death sentence. Knowing it’d be a miracle to live past thirty… who wants to get married like that?”

Faith nodded. “But now we’re almost thirty and we’ve got the rest of our lives ahead of us. What do you want to do with yours? Seriously.”

Buffy shrugged helplessly and sat down. “I have  _ no idea _ .”   
  
“I don’t either. But I know who I want to do it with.” Faith put an arm around her. “You know how I said maybe we don’t get along because we’re not supposed to exist together?”

Buffy nodded, looking confused. “Yeah?”

“Well, now that I see all these new Slayers out in the world, I think I know the truth. It’s not that we’re not supposed to exist together, it’s that we’re not supposed to exist without each other. And we both  _ hate _ that.”

Buffy laughed. “You may have a point there.”

“So… Maybe we should give this a shot? If it doesn’t work out, I’m sure wanting to break up will break the spell.” Faith suggested hopefully.

“I… dunno. It’s so  _ weird _ . Just the thought of being married at all is like… touching a plasma ball. It’s not bad exactly, but I can’t tell if the tingly feeling is good or not.” She sighed

“Okay, so forget about  _ married. _ ” Faith told her, reaching over to take her hand. “What about dating me?”

Buffy considered that. “Dating you… could be cool, I guess. Still weird, because I’ve never dated a girl before. But apparently even  _ Xander _ knew I was into you, so I was the only person who thought I was straight.”

Faith laughed. “You were  _ not  _ subtle, B. I dunno how you didn’t notice.”

“Okay, well, not everyone has to figure that stuff out at the same time.” Buffy replied defensively. “I got there when it mattered.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. Being surrounded by mysterious muscular men who were always way too into you probably didn’t help either.”

Buffy stared at her for a minute. “Shit, do I even actually like men? If I’m this clueless, what if I was a lesbian all along?”

Faith laughed so hard at that it took her a second to catch her breath, Buffy pouting the whole time. “No, B. I think it’s pretty clear you’re into dudes. I don’t think even you would’ve kept fucking Spike for so long if you weren’t. Especially since everyone was so mad at you for doing it.”

Buffy nodded, looking relieved. “And there  _ was _ that time I was so horny for Riley that we woke up all those ghosts.”   
  
“Wait what?” Faith stared. “When are you going to tell me that story?”   
  
“Later. Sorry. It’s… not really important right now and we had a whole big conversation…” Buffy leaned on her shoulder. “Yeah, I’m down to give this a try.”

Faith grinned. “For real?”   
  
“For real.” Buffy confirmed, shifting to kiss her warmly.

Buffy and Faith settled into each other’s arms and decided without talking any further about it that the future could take care of itself. They would enjoy the time they had together.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is... long. The idea of the magic rings kind of scooped me up and propelled the story along. I hope you enjoyed! It was so much fun to write.


End file.
